Autor: admin
Datum objave: 30.06.2013
Share
Komentari:


Munich hometown hero sings first Trovatore

Jonas Kaufmann

Munich hometown hero sings first "Trovatore"

http://www.wral.com/munich-hometown-hero-sings-first-trovatore-/12612494/

 

In case you missed Jonas Kaufmann last night.....

http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/

Live in Munich with Jonas Kaufmann today

http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/2013/06/il-trovatore-munich.html

MUNICH, Germany — Parodied by everyone from Gilbert and Sullivan to the Marx Brothers, Verdi's "Il Trovatore" is often dismissed as an absurd story about ridiculous characters redeemed by its glorious music.

 

Jonas Kaufmann doesn't see it that way.

 

The Munich-born tenor, who made his role debut as Manrico at the Bavarian State Opera on Thursday night, said he found the troubadour to have surprising depths.

 

"I'm not so much attracted to one-dimensional characters like 'the romantic lover' or 'the hero who rescues the maiden in distress,'" Kaufmann said in an email response to questions. "Compared to those typical Italian tenor parts, Manrico is different. He is a lover, he is a fighter and he is a victim of a difficult mother-son relationship and of a tragic family story."

 

All those qualities and more are certainly brought to the fore in the wild new production by Olivier Py that opened the company's annual Munich Opera Festival. It's a non-stop barrage of nightmarish images mixing styles and periods that assault the audience at lightning speed on a multi-tiered revolving set.

 

For starters, there's a blind heroine, a burning cross, a baby plucked from its mother's womb, clergy wearing conical white hats suggesting the Inquisition, a stage-within-the-stage, spinning mechanical gears and doubles who enact their own back stories in pantomime.

 

Most striking is the glowering presence of a character (naked but for a flesh-colored body stocking) who is only mentioned in the libretto: the ghost of a gypsy burned at the stake years earlier. It's her daughter, Azucena, whose obsession with revenge drives the plot.

 

"I'd say the overall theme of the production is that none of the four principals could escape their family history," Kaufmann said. "Everything they say, they do and they feel is a result of those awful things which happened in the past, therefore they don't have a chance to live their own lives."

 

Py's crazy-quilt approach is guaranteed to horrify traditionalists, but Munich audiences are used to unconventional productions, so when the French director bounded out with an impish grin for his curtain call, he was greeted with as many cheers as boos.

 

For the singers, there were repeated foot-stomping ovations, the loudest being reserved for Kaufmann's co-star, the sublime German soprano Anja Harteros as Leonora.

 

Kaufmann himself took a while to come into his own in his first outing as Manrico. In the ensembles of the first two acts, the dark quality of his voice made it sometimes hard to distinguish his timbre from that of Russian baritone Alexey Markov, singing the role of the Count di Luna, his deadly rival.

 

After intermission, things improved dramatically, starting with the extended aria in which Manrico looks forward to his wedding to Leonora, then shifts gears and rushes off to try to rescue Azucena (sung by the Russian mezzo-soprano Elina Manistina).

 

His elegant phrasing and ardent tone in "Ah! Si, ben mio" — complete with delicate trills — were ravishing. And he brought fire and clarion sound to the rousing cabaletta, "Di quella pira," singing both verses and interpolating the traditional high notes, though he took them down a half-tone to B natural.

 

"Of course the audience is waiting for 'Di quella pira,'" Kaufmann said. "I recorded a version with two stanzas and two high Cs and it worked very well. But to do this on stage in my first production would mean to take a too-high risk, so the team in Munich and I decided to do the transposed version."

 

Kaufmann, at 43 possibly the most-in-demand tenor in the world today, is notable for the wide range of his repertoire: Wagner, French opera, and increasingly the heavier Verdi and Puccini roles. And he clearly intends to keep it that way.

 

"It may be my voice is darker than that of many tenors in the Italian repertoire," Kaufmann said. "But I don't see that means I should stick to Wagner. I mean, also when singing Lohengrin, my voice may seem darker compared to some famous singers of that role. So, should I stick to Siegmund then? No!"

 

"I'm glad that I could sing Faust after Siegmund, and Manrico after Lohengrin and Parsifal," he added. "And I will go on with that — not only because it would be a bore for me if I would sing always the same five, six parts, but also for vocal health. I'm convinced that singing Verdi is very good for singing Wagner and vice versa."

 

Now that he's tackled Manrico, his next new Verdi role is Don Alvaro in "La Forza del Destino," which he's singing in Munich this fall. After that, inevitably, is a pinnacle of the repertory, the title role of "Otello."

 

"It's one of the most exciting, most complex, most interesting and most beautiful parts you can imagine," Kaufmann said. "And it's one of the most demanding and most dangerous as well, mostly because of the emotional impact. You can easily hurt yourself vocally if you lose control. That's the reason why I haven't sung the part yet. Conductors and directors keep asking me, but we will have to wait another couple of years."

 

Meanwhile, although the three remaining "Trovatores" are sold out, opera fans worldwide have a chance to see it for themselves. The Bavarian State Opera is offering a free streaming video of the performance on Friday, July 5, beginning at 7 p.m., local time, on its website: www.staatsoper.de/tv .

Il trovatore

http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/889-ZG9tPWRvbTImaWQ9Mjg3MCZsPWVu-~spielplan~oper~veranstaltungen~vorstellung.html

 

Giuseppe Verdi

Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano

 

Opera in four acts

 "If you travel to India and to Central Africa, you'll hear Trovatore.“ Nine years after the triumphant first performance, Verdi's opera had achieved the worldwide popularity that moved the composer to make this comment. The fabric of the opera could hardly be more gloomy: a gypsy who wishes to avenge the death of her mother at the stake, a count who wishes to use the execution of this gypsy to strike at his rival; a horrifying truth that is revealed at the moment of death. All the ingredients of Verdi's dramatic abundance appear here: mysterious sound worlds, harsh contrasts, vocal brilliance, opulent tableaux. The cohesive narrative style gives way to the variation of suggestive musical images with which Verdi served "the most important part of the drama“: revenge.

 

In Italian with German surtitles

 

New production

 

supported by

BMW MUNCHEN

Partner der Münchner Opernfestspiele

 

 

All Dates

 

Performances:

Monday, 1 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.

Friday, 5 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.

Monday, 8 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.

 

Saturday, 9 November 2013, 7.00 p.m.

Tuesday, 12 November 2013, 7.00 p.m.

Saturday, 16 November 2013, 6.00 p.m.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013, 7.00 p.m.

 

Casts

Conductor Paolo Carignani   

Production Olivier Py  

Set and Costumes Pierre-André Weitz  

Lighting Bertrand Killy  

Chorus Sören Eckhoff  

 

Conte di Luna

Alexey Markov 1./5./8. July 2013 

 

Vitaliy Bilyy 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013 

 

Leonora

Anja Harteros 1./5./8. July 2013 

 

Krassimira Stoyanova 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013 

 

Azucena

Elena Manistina  

 

Manrico

Jonas Kaufmann  

 

Ferrando

Kwangchul Youn 1./5./8. July 2013 

 

Goran Jurić 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013 

 

Ines

Golda Schultz 1./5./8. July 2013 

 

Laura Tatulescu 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013 

 

Ruiz

Francesco Petrozzi 1./5./8. July 2013 

 

Dean Power 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013 

 

Ein Zigeuner Rafał Pawnuk  

 

Ein Bote Joshua Stewart  

 

The Bavarian State Orchestra

The Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera

Gefangen im ewigen Schicksalsrad

http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/kultur/buehne/558107_Gefangen-im-ewigen-Schicksalsrad.html

Olivier Py inszenierte "Il Trovatore"

Für München sind die alljährlichen Opernfestspiele bis Ende Juli immer eine Leistungsschau. Quer durchs Repertoire, mit vollem Haus, sind sie ein selbstbewusstes XL-Ausrufezeichen, bei dem obendrein auch die Kasse ziemlich laut klingelt. Heuer natürlich mit Blick auf die beiden Großjubilare Wagner und Verdi. Da für den Deutschen schon ein Nibelungen-Ring geschmiedet wurde, hatte der Italiener beim Festspielauftakt den Vortritt. Mit einem "Trovatore" in Luxusbesetzung.

 

Jonas Kaufmann und Anja Harteros sind seit ihrem Auftritt als Lohengrin und Elsa schon so etwas wie ein Bühnentraumpaar. Sie liefern natürlich auch als Manrico und Leonora vokale Spitzenklasse. Für das schmetternde, immer etwas melancholisch umschattete Leiden und Schmachten ist Kaufmann der richtige Strahlemann. Selbst wenn die Piani manchmal mühsam klingen, passt das bei ihm noch ins Gesamtbild. Und wenn Anja Harteros am Ende ihre hochsouveräne Leonora auch noch mit betörend verlöschenden Piani krönt, die mit natürlicher Selbstverständlichkeit zu Boden fallen, wie sie selbst nach ihrem Opferselbstmord für den Geliebten, dann hat sich dieser Abend schon gelohnt.

 

Ensemble auf Augenhöhe

Dabei schweben sie keineswegs über dem restlichen Personal - vor allem der fulminante Graf Luna von Alexey Markov und die Azucena, bei der Elena Manistina mit dunkel leuchtender Eloquenz stets ihre ganze Lebenstragik mitschwingen lässt, sind auf Augenhöhe und werden, wie der Rest des Ensembles, von Paolo Carignani und dem Bayerischen Staatsorchester getragen. Ohne, dass er sie mit Italianità zu übertrumpfen versucht. Selbst wenn man sich das Ganze für die Folgevorstellungen noch eine Spur überwältigender und faszinierender vorstellen kann, ist ein musikalisches Prunkstück zu vermelden.

 

Es passt zur Spielplandramaturgie von Nikolaus Bachler, dass er Verdis Schauerstück mit einer interessanten Regiehandschrift konfrontiert. Multitalent Oliver Py hat sich außerhalb von Deutschland längst als Regiefachmann für die obsessiven und dunklen Seiten der Leidenschaft einen Namen gemacht. Die längst durchdeklinierte Optik einer technisch angehauchten Mechanik der Dunkelheit seines Ausstattungspartners Pierre-André Weitz und die mit viel nackter Haut beim gut gebautem Zusatzpersonal personifizierten Obsessionen sind hierzulande noch neu.

 

Traumata und Alpträume

 Da der Plot um eine Hexenverbrennung, ein ins Feuer geworfenes Kind, eine Frau zwischen zwei Männern als historisches Schauermärchen kaum in eine schlüssige Geschichte zu übersetzen ist, nimmt Py das Ganze als Subtextvorlage und illustriert Traumata als Lebensalpträume. Da sind alle irgendwie in der Unerbittlichkeit eines Schicksalsräderwerkes gefangen. Leonora ist hier blind. Und wenn es Licht gibt, dann kommt es aus der Erinnerung an den Feuertod der stets durch die Szene geisternden Mutter Azucenas. Wenn ein verdorrter Wald oder ein Kreuz von Flammen umlodert wird, macht das gewaltigen Eindruck. Ebenso wie die mit nackter Heldenbrust und symbolträchtiger Tiermaske ringenden Alter Egos der Rivalen, die es aus dem Unterbewusstsein zu aktionsreichem Bühnenleben bringen. Alles in einer rotierenden wuchtigen Rauminstallation, die von Bühne über Fassaden, einen gekachelten Innenraum bis zur Zelle und einem abgebranntem Waldblick in verschiedenen Größen alles bereithält, was man für ein Alptraumambiente braucht. Das Publikum bejubelte die Akteure und ließ auch die Regie passieren.

 

Oper Il Trovatore Von Giuseppe Verdi Bayerische Staatsoper München

Paolo Carignani (Dirigent) Olivier Py (Regie)

991
Kategorije: Glazba
Nek se čuje i Vaš glas
Vaše ime:
Vaša poruka:
Developed by LELOO. All rights reserved.